Parties in blame game before polls
- Gogoi, Bijoya trade charges

A STAFF REPORTER

Guwahati, May 29: Blame game among political parties before GMC elections over their failure to address basic public grievances of waterlogging, drinking water crisis and poor road condition is slowly gaining momentum.

The three issues are likely to dominate campaigns for elections to 31 wards and 90 area sabhas of the GMC to be held on June 19.

On Monday, chief minister Tarun Gogoi alleged that the AGP and the BJP had “done nothing” to solve the city’s civic problems. The two Opposition parties, on the other hand, maintain that Gogoi is blaming them to hide Congress’s failure to address public grievances.

Two days after Gogoi’s accusations, BJP Lok Sabha MP from Guwahati, Bijoya Chakraborty, today said: “Gogoi said I had done nothing, but he forgot the fact that Rs 170 crore was sanctioned by the Union urban development ministry because of my initiative when I was the Union water resources minister.I persuaded the Centre to sanction the money for development of Guwahati but the Congress government in the state failed to submit the utilisation certificate and we suspect anomalies in the utilisation.”

Chakraborty alleged that it was because of the Congress government’s failure to solve flash floods, improve roads and drainage that six persons had died after falling into drains. “As the ruling Congress is finding it difficult to approach the people of Guwahati for votes, Gogoi is unnecessarily putting the blame on Opposition parties,” she said.

Yesterday, Gogoi faced similar criticism from the AGP with the party’s leader in-charge of the city unit, Ramendra Narayan Kalita, alleging that the chief minister was blaming the Opposition to hide the Congress’s failure during its 12 years in power. “The Congress government has failed to persuade the Centre and sanction sufficient funds to solve flash floods, drinking water crisis, traffic congestion and poor transportation,” Kalita had said.

Many city residents, however, feel that they are let down by political parties.

“Blame game of our politicians is not new. We have seen how our representatives failed to address the perennial problems of waterlogging and drinking water crisis over the years,” said Ranjan Kumar Baruah, a young activist of Nayanpur.